Fostoria Dell's hosting dinner to benefit local teacher

Last week, Fostoria restaurant Dell's announced an upcoming chicken dinner benefit to help cover the costs of cancer treatment for a local teacher. The carry-out benefit will take place at Dillon Road Baptist Church, 1512 Dillon Rd., on Sunday at noon. The teacher to be benefited is Michelle Schaser, an intervention specialist at Lakota Local Schools. Schaser also served as the district's assistant athletic director in the fall. Material promoting the benefit said Schaser has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer, for which the out-of-pocket expenses were already adding up. Her first chemotherapy treatment was last Tuesday. Schaser's journey began in the later days of October 2021, when she went to a doctor to diagnose a lump on her neck. The doctors assumed it was a simple lymph node issue and sent her home with an antibiotic. A few weeks later, Schaser was back at the doctor and was immediately sent for a CAT scan and blood work. On Nov. 16, she got a lymph node biopsy — the doctors assumed she had lymphoma. When the results came back, Schaser received the diagnosis: triple negative metastatic breast cancer. The lump on her neck was a result of the breast cancer spreading. "From there, it's been an ongoing series of biopsies and MRIs and CAT scans and bone scans to make sure it hasn't spread anywhere else," Schaser said. Schaser will undergo chemotherapy treatments every Tuesday for 12 weeks, beginning last week, as long as her white blood cell count remains stagnant. After that, she'll go through a second round of chemo once every three weeks for 12 more weeks, making for 16 total doses of chemotherapy. After that, Schaser will likely receive breast and neck surgery in the summer, followed by radiation therapy. "It's about a year long process ahead of me," she said. As for her job at Lakota, Schaser is taking at least the next 12 weeks off to monitor how her immune system copes with the first round of chemo. She said the likelihood of her returning to school this semester is slim, but she wants to try and visit her students or go to a basketball game if possible. "When we're living in a pandemic and you're undergoing chemo, it's not the easiest thing," she said. This is Schaser's 23rd year as a teacher. She works with students with reading and math difficulties, as well as special learning disabilities, in both small groups and large classes at Lakota Elementary School. Both the Lakota community and the Fostoria community have reached out to support Schaser during this difficult time, with words of encouragement and benefit events like the upcoming Dell's dinner. "The outpouring of support from this community, both Lakota and Fostoria, has meant everything to me," Schaser said. "Just knowing that I've got people out there who've got my back … it means everything to me." Schaser is also getting support from her son, husband and the team at ProMedica Bay Park Hospital in Oregon, Ohio, who administers her chemo treatments. She says she has an "amazing team" of supporters. There were originally 400 tickets available for the event, but the church said they've only sold 119 as of Monday, Jan. 3. The representative said any interested supporters can still contact Dell's to reserve tickets, which cost $12 apiece, over the next few days. Carry-out meal packages include half of a slow smoked chicken, coleslaw, green beans and homemade cookies. Limited seating will be available by the church. Schaser is tentatively planning to be present at the benefit event, but it all depends on how her next treatment goes, she said. If she does attend, she'll have to socially distance from all attendees. "I will not say that chemotherapy is easy," Schaser said. "It can kick your butt. But I'm just trying to stay positive and take it one day at a time."